Is 'open network' just marketing hype?

Last week the FCC announced the winners of the 700 MHz spectrum auction. Noticeably absent from the list was Google. The search giant was a key instigator in the open access requirement for spectrum holders and it will be fascinating to see how this open access agenda unfolds with the new 700 MHz spectrum winners. 

Verizon Wireless held its inaugural open network conference last week in New York, and from what I gathered much of the discussion focused on opening the network to devices. I heard little mention of opening the network to applications, which is key to mobile content players.

Meanwhile, AT&T (probably in response to Verizon's conference) starting touting its openness. The company sent out a press release last week talking about its developer contest at CTIA and highlighting its open application policy.

Sprint says its Xohm WiMAX network will be open, and it may be truly open, but it's not deployed yet so we don't really know how applications and devices will work on the network.

At this point, it appears to me that Verizon, AT&T and Sprint are trying to gain traction in the market by touting their open networks even though no one really knows what that means. It seems that "open" has become a marketing term used to lure potential customers and business partners. And by touting their "openness" these carriers can potentially keep regulators from hindering their business strategies by defining "open network" for them. 

I expect to hear more about open networks at next week's CTIA conference in Las Vegas. I'm moderating at panel on the "Open Network Promise" during FierceMarkets' co-located event, The Path to 4G, on April 2. My panelists will include Skype's Chris Libertelli, CTIA's Michael Altschul, iGrowthGlobal's Scott Wallsten and industry analyst Andy Seybold. I expect a lot of interesting debate so you may want to check it out. Here's a link to the agenda.

Speaking of Andy Seybold, I'd like to welcome him as a new monthly columnist for FierceMobileContent. His first column is in today's issue. Seybold has been a regular columnist in FierceWireless for the past year and I think you will enjoy his commentary. He's always insightful and often controversial in his views. You may not always agree with him, but I think you'll appreciate his take on the mobile content space. -Sue